The Brawl Commander is an interesting innovation on the massively popular Commander format of Magic: the Gathering. It allows you to play only Standard-legal cards with either a Legendary Creature or Planeswalker at the helm as a Commander. You also only play 60 cards, instead of the customary 100. One of those cards is your Commander, which sits in the Command Zone rather than in your deck. Also, you start with 30 life rather than 40. The rest of the rules of the format are the same as traditional Commander. It’s an awesome gateway format to traditional Commander with the sort of wide-open metagame that you’d expect from a singleton format.

One of my favorite Brawl decks that I’ve found in the Kaladesh to Dominaria era is Vona, Butcher of Magan. This particular list is sub $60 at time of this writing. It’s due to lose a few cards with the October 2018 rotation, such as Fatal Push and Gifted Aetherborn; so if you want to build this deck, you can leave out the Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet, and Hour of Devastation cards, which will make the list under $50 easily.

White/Black Vampires seemed a deck that was poised to be a nice budget strategy in Standard with the release of Ixalan. The deck got better with Rivals of Ixalan, too. But the tribe, good as its cards are in the current Standard cardpool, hasn’t made huge waves in the meta, although with a skilled pilot it can win some duels.

Vona, Butcher of Magan is a really cool Legendary Creature. Already a 4/4 vigilant Vampire Knight with lifelink, Vona also has a powerful tap ability. Pay 7 life and you can destroy a target nonland permanent. While it can only be activated on your turn, you can do so after she attacks. She hasn’t quite caught on in traditional Commander, but I think she will at some point.

This deck is a great starting place for anyone who wants to play Vampires in Commander. Actually, this deck list reads as a who’s who of Vampires in Standard. Indeed, Brawl decks are meant to “feel” a bit like you’re playing a Standard deck. But as singletons, many cards become objectively more powerful, as we’ll see as we delve into this pretty sweet deck list.

Creatures Breakdown

The list begins with three strong Vampire one-drops: Duskborne Marcher, Skymarcher Aspirant, and Vicious Conquistador. The Marcher pumps another attacking Vampire by just +1/+1, but sometimes, that’s all you need. Aspirant is actually playable in decks outside of Vampires, and once you have the City’s Blessing, she’s a 2/1 flyer for one, which is really good. Getting 10 permanents in Brawl is not hard to do. The Conquistador is an above average one drop with a ½ body and the ability to make each opponent lose 1 life. Naturally, the Conquistador is much more powerful in multiplayer games.

The deck has a slew of two-drop creatures: Adanto Vanguard, Bishop’s Soldier, Dusk Legion Zealot, Gifted Aetherborn, Legion Lieutenant, Martyr of Dusk, Oathsworn Vampire, and Queen’s Bay Soldier. The Vanguard is effectively a 3/1 when attacking and you can 4 life to make the Vanguard indestructible. Paying 4 life sounds like a high cost, but when you have a lot of lifelink like you do in this deck, using that ability to win a combat against a good creature is worth the price.

Bishop’s Soldier is a fairly vanilla 2/2 for 2 mana with Lifelink. But Lifelink is an important part of this deck, so you play him with that in mind. Dusk Legion Zealot is a Standard playable so good he got printed in Masters 25. He draws you a card when he enters, so losing that 1 life is no big deal at all. Gifted Aetherborn is just a solid two-mana 2 / 3 with deathtouch and lifelink. The post-October 2018 version of this deck will miss him but not that much.

Legion Lieutenant gives other vampires you control +1/+1. This is important because it makes the already slightly above-average Vampires in this deck very much above average creatures. This is a lord creature that you play when you’re about to have the beatdown to apply extra pressure.

Martyr of Dusk is a 2/1 for 2 mana that makes a 1/1 Vampire token with lifelink when he dies. Creatures that replace themselves are always pretty good, after all. Oathsworn Vampire comes into play tapped, which sounds bad until you see you can cast him from your graveyard if you gained life that turn. Not terrible. Queen’s Bay Soldier is just a vanilla 2/2 Vampire Soldier, but… that’s some sick artwork right there!

Some of the three-drop creatures in this deck are pretty awesome. Forerunner of the Legion is a recruiter for Vampires, putting a Vampire of your choice from your deck on top. But his usefulness doesn’t end there! Whenever another Vampire enters the battlefield under your control, target creature gets +1/+1.

Inspiring Cleric just gives you 4 life when she enters. But a 3/2 body for 3 mana is perfectly acceptable and the lifegain is always welcome.

Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle was one of my favorite creatures in Ixalan. Whenever one or more of your Vampires attack, you create a 1/1 Vampire token with lifelink. It’s too bad you only get one token per combat, but he’s a nice little value engine.

Sadistic Skymarcher is a 3-mana flyer 2/2 with lifelink, which is pretty sweet, but you have to reveal a Vampire card from your hand or pay an extra colorless mana when he enters. Not terrible, and certainly playable. Skymarch Bloodletter is a bit better, a 2/2 flyer for 3 that drains an opponent for 1 life.

Voracious Vampire is the last 3-drop Vampire in the deck, and she’s a 2/2 with menace. When she enters, target Vampire you control gains +1/+1 and menace until end of turn. Forcing your opponent to block with two creatures is pretty good, and in certain circumstances, this gal facilitates 2-for-1 or even 3-for-1 combats.

Bishop of Binding is pretty terrible in regular Standard, BUT in Brawl that’s a whole different story. Only a 1/1 for 3W, his effectiveness depends on the creature that you exile with his enter the battlefield ability. He’s quite fragile, but the power and toughness boost he creates can be given to any Vampire you control, not just him. So, in the context of this deck, he’s both removal and a repeatable pump spell. That’s not bad at all.

Paladin of the Bloodstained is a pretty underwhelming 4-mana Knight that brings a 1/1 vampire token with lifelink when he enters. But what else can you ask from a common? Two bodies out of one card is pretty much always good, and this is pretty average. Likewise, Sanguine Glorifier is a 3/3 that gives a target Vampire a +1/+1 counter when she enters. Not great, but pretty good to throw on Vona.

The best non-Vona creature in the deck is easily Sanctum Seeker. He’s essentially Hellrider for Vampires. Whenever a Vampire attacks, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. Note that it’s for each Vampire that attacks, unlike with Mavren Fein. He’s already good enough in 1v1 Magic. But, in multiplayer, this guy is just absolutely busted and can break the game wide open in your favor. This guy is one of your win conditions.

The last creature in the deck is Champion of Dusk. He’s really straightforward: he enters and you lose X life and draw X cards where X is the number of Vampires you control. Since you’re gaining a lot of life, you don’t care about the lifeloss. This guy helps you get back in the game when you’ve run out of gas. Also, he’s a 4/4, so he works for you on the field, too.

Spells Breakdown

Unsurprisingly, this is a creature-heavy deck, since the Vampire tribe relies so much on its creatures. That’s why you play some underwhelming stuff. So there aren’t many non-creature spells. Duress is pretty basic hand control, but it’s one of the best control spells in the game, so it’s worth including. Fatal Push might be one of the best removal spells ever printed, and it’s gone with October 2018 Standard rotation. Still, it’s worth picking one up just to have, since it’s going to see play forever.

Cast Down destroys a nonlegendary creature. It’s a Dominaria card that’s going to be a Brawl staple for quite some time. Doomfall is a sweet card that’s pretty much a split card since you can choose one of two options. Either your opponent exiles a creature they control or you exile a nonland card from his or her hand. Either option is great for 3 mana, but sadly, it leaves Brawl with Hour of Devastation in 10/18.

The other two noncreature spells are token generators: Queen’s Commission makes two 1/1 vampires with lifelink for 3 mana and Call to the Feast creates three 1/1’s with lifelink for four. Both are great in this deck.

Artifacts and Enchantments

The two artifacts in this deck are extremely strong. Vanquisher’s Banner is a Tribal staple that many traditional Commander players still haven’t adopted, strangely enough. Not only does the Banner pump creatures of the chosen type by +1/+1, but also draws you a card each time you cast a creature of that type. It’s really a key card in this deck.

The Immortal Sun is just a Brawl staple all around, as long as you’re not playing any Planeswalkers. It’s a pretty ridiculous card. Spells you cast cost 1 less to cast, you draw an additional card each draw step, AND creatures you control gain +1/+1. Shutting down planeswalkers’ loyalty abilities is a plus in this deck.

Legion’s Landing is a one-mana Enchantment that brings a 1/1 Vampire token with it. When you attack with three or more creatures, you transform it into a Vampire-token creating machine. It can even tap for White mana. Radiant Destiny is another awesome tribal card, not only giving your Vampires (or any creature type you choose) +1/+1 but it can give you the city’s blessing once you have 10 permanents. With all the little Vampires you have in this deck, that’s pretty easy to do. Once you have the city’s blessing, all of your Vampires gain vigilance. This deck becomes really hard to beat at that point!

Squire’s Devotion is one of the more odd choices in this deck, in my opinion. It’s a 3 mana Enchantment that gives the enchanted creature +1/+1 and lifelink. It also brings a 1/1 Vampire token with lifelink with it. Not a bad card, and it really just feels like another token generator that you might stick on your Sanctum Seeker or Champion of Dusk.

Cast Out and Ixalan’s Binding are standard removal staples that are also Brawl staples. Not much to say about them except that Cast Out won’t be in Brawl much longer.

Not much to say about the mana base except that Concealed Courtyard, Ifnir Deadlands, and Shefet Dunes are all saying goodbye in October ‘18. Save yourself about $6 there, unless you need them for other formats. Memorial to Folly is a nice way to get back a creature card from your grave, like Sanctum Seeker or Champion of Dusk.

Deck Strategy

While many of the cards in this deck wouldn’t ever see Standard or traditional Commander play, in Brawl, they all work synergistically. Honestly, there aren’t any below-average cards in the deck besides maybe the vanilla creatures. But even they are important to this deck’s strategy. You just need to fill the board with Vampires and let your Sanctum Seeker go to work. Vona helps you keep the board clear of problems while leading the charge.

Really, the deck wins on pure Tribal synergy. The tribal boost cards really are what make this deck so deadly. You’re winning by swarming the board with creatures that suddenly become above-average to well above-average with just a couple of support cards. Many of your creatures come with a token attached, so you’re getting card advantage all of the time. Swarm decks have always been one of my favorite strategies and this deck is one that I’d play.

Magic 2019 gives the deck Vampire Sovereign. While a 5-mana 3 / 4 flyer isn’t all that great, the drain ability for 3 life is pretty decent, even if it only affects one opponent. It’s going to replace Gifted Aetherborn in the deck, which does mess the mana curve up only a little. But Magic 2019 also gives the deck Vampire Neonate, a one-drop that can tap to drain all opponents for 1 life for only 2 colorless mana. The Queen’s Bay Soldier can go to make room for it.

This is a great, very competitive deck in the KLD-DOM Brawl meta. M19 is definitely going to shake things up with the Elder Dragons, but this deck is tribal synergy at its finest.

Najeela, the Blade-Blossomis one of the best cards from Battlebond, a Magic the Gathering set designed for the Two-Headed Giant format. Like a few other cards from the set, Najeela has a powerful ability that can benefit both you, your teammate, and your opponents. Fortunately, her first powerful ability needs to be built around to be truly deadly and her second powerful ability is only good for the player who controls her. Let’s dig into what makes Najeela, the Blade-Blossom tick and find out what will potentially make her one of the more powerful Commanders in EDH!

How Najeela, the Blade-Blossom Creates a Ton of Warrior Tokens

Najeela is a Human Warrior Legendary Creature with 3/2 Stats costing only 2R to cast. At three mana, Najeela can enter play rather quickly. Whenever a Warrior attacks, herself included, that Warrior’s controller can create a 1/1 white Warrior creature token that’s tapped and attacking. That’s pretty nifty.

But, notice the wording of that ability. Yes, any player who controls a Warrior can take advantage of this ability. Still, most token creation abilities of this require that the attacking creature be a nontoken creature. This ability doesn’t have that restriction. So, each time you attack with a Warrior creature token, you can get another one. That means a lot of Warrior tokens. It can get out of control quite quickly.

Can Najeela, the Blade-Blossom End a Game All By Herself?

While Najeela’s first ability is actually quite symmetrical, her second ability most certainly isn’t. Her second ability is a powerful combat ability. By paying one of each color mana (WUBRG) you untap all attacking creatures. Not only do you get an additional combat phase, but all of your untapped creatures gain trample, lifelink, and even haste until end of turn.

But, wait, why would a creature that’s already attacked and tapped need to gain haste? Well, technically, the Warrior tokens that Najeela creates don’t have haste even though they entered tapped and attacking. This little haste boost allows you to be able to attack with them yet again.

What gets even better is that you can use this ability multiple times during combat as long as you have the mana to do so. Even if your opponents have gotten a few tokens out of Najeela’s ability, this ability to attack one or more extra times in a turn while clearing even more Warrior tokens is brutal.

But that mana cost for her second ability is extremely restrictive. In what decks is Najeela, the Blade-Blossom going to see play that can consistently create all five colors of mana?

Enter Commander.

Najeela: Five-Color Warrior Tribal Commander

While there are certainly ways to create five colors of mana in Legacy, the best format for Najeela is no doubt Commander. But wait, if she’s a mono-Red creatures, how can you make five colors of mana? That’s because Najeela’s second ability gives her a color identity of all five colors. Yup, that means that Najeela is a Five-Color Commander who can take Warrior Tribal to a brand new level.

Not only can you play any Warrior that exists in Magic the Gathering, but you also have access to powerful token doublers in Green such as Doubling Season and Parallel Lives, plus Anointed Procession in White. Since you really need to build your deck entirely around Warriors for Najeela to be good, she’s actually a deadly Commander.

But the sheer amount of token creation isn’t all that’s good about a Najeela deck. Najeela also has a powerful combo with a three-mana Green Enchantment calledDruids’ Repository. This enchantment allows you to put a charge counter on it each time one of your creatures attacks. You can then remove a charge counter from it to add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Since you’re attacking a lot, this is going to net you a lot of free mana. And, if you have Druids’ Repository in play when you’re using her second ability to take multiple combat phases, well, you can actually end up attacking an infinite number of times.

Aven Wind Guideis a four-mana Bird Warrior from Amonkhet. He gives all of your creature tokens flying and vigilance and can even be Embalmed to come back as a token himself! Turning all of your free tokens into fliers who are also vigilant is pretty sweet. Then again, this is actually a bit unfortunate when it comes to the wording of Najeela’s ability, as your vigilant creature tokens won’t get to gain trample and lifelink. But they’ll still be able to attack again, and that’s OK!

Blood-Chin Fanatichas an ability for 1B to sacrifice another Warrior creature you control to make a target player lose X life and you gain X life, where X is that sacrificed creature’s power. This is a nifty little way to finish someone off if you don’t have multiple combat phases going.

Boldwyr Intimidatoris a pretty funny Warrior than can turn an opponent’s creature into a Coward until the end of turn for only one Red mana. A creature that’s a Coward can’t block Warriors. You can even have him turn a creature that isn’t a Warrior into one until end of turn for only 2R.

Bramblewood Paragonis an awesome Elf Warrior that makes every Warrior creature you control enter play with a +1/+1 counter on it. If that wasn’t good enough, any creature you control that has a +1/+1 counter on it gains trample. And she only costs 1G to cast! Ouch.

Brighthearth Banneretis going to be a Najeela staple as he makes your Warrior (and Elemental) spells cost 1 colorless mana less to cast. That’s going to add up to a lot of savings over the course of a game. You can also use his Reinforce ability for 1R by discarding himt o give a creature a +1/+1 counter. While this may not always seem relevant, remember that Bramblewood Paragon gives creatures with +1/+1 counters trample. It’s a corner case, for sure, but keep it in mind.

Brion Stoutarmwas already a good Commander on his own for flinging creatures at people. Now he can do it here, too. While his ability requires him to tap, that’s not an issue with Najeela’s untap ability. You’ll have plenty of Red mana to activate his ability, too.

Brutal Hordechiefis a mythic rare that’s always been good but needed a permanent home. Having Black, White, and Red in his color identity limited his Commander playability. But now, he’s right at home in Najeela. Not only does he make a defending player lose 1 life each time you have a creature attack, but you gain 1 life for each one as well. He even has a nifty 5 mana ability to force all creatures your opponents control to block. You even get to choose how those creatures block! If infinite combat phases wasn’t brutal enough, with Brutal Hordechief you can clear the board to have a free shot the next turn!

Champion of Lambholtwas a pretty good Warrior in her Standard days and continues to see Commander play. What makes her brutal is that she gets big fast if you can pump out a lot of tokens. Plus, each time she gains a +1/+1 counter, it becomes increasingly difficult for opponents to block your creatures. It doesn’t take long for your creatures to become essentially unblockable, paving your way to an easy victory.

Champion of Stray Soulsdoesn’t seem like an obvious choice for a Najeela Warrior Tribal deck. But this skeleton warrior has an ability to sacrifice X creatures to bring back X creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield. Since you have a ton of expendable Warrior tokens to sacrifice, you’re easily going to be able to bring back important creatures from the graveyard. For only 5 mana, this is an amazing ability.

Chief of the Edgegives all your Warriors +1/+0 andChief of the Scalegives all your Warriors +0/+1. While these little boosts don’t look all that great, they do make a difference. A 1 / 2 Warrior token is actually a lot better than a 1/1 one, after all. One point of power or toughness can make all of the difference.

Combat Celebranthas already enjoyed some competitive spotlight in Standard, but Najeela will ensure that he always has a home. Who doesn’t love even more extra combat phases? Sure, you have to exert him, and he won’t untap during your next untap step. But Najeela can untap him anyway, so who cares? Why not save five mana here and there?

Dragonscale General’s bolster ability seems pretty sweet, but why just have one creature gain a bunch of +1/+1 counters at your end step? There are plenty of reasons, Brion Stoutarm being one of them. Champion of Lambholt is another.

These are only a handful of Warriors with advantageous abilities. Plus, Battlebond has a few more, including Blaring Captain, Blaring Recruiter, Decorated Champion, Mindblade Render, Rushblade Commander, Thrasher Brute, and more. New Warriors are always being printed, too. So, Najeela is going to get new friends all the time.

Is Najeela, the Blade-Blossom Going to Be One of the Top Commanders of All-Time?

Being a five-color Commander, Najeela has a lot of great cards to choose from. Since Warriors are such a huge tribe with lots of support already, Najeela is definitely going to be popular and strong in both multi-player and 1v1 Commander.

While it’s doubtful she’ll ever see much play outside of Commander, Najeela should be a lot of fun in Two-Headed Giant. And, yes, there’s even Two-Headed Giant Commander. The Battlebond design team probably had that fact in mind, too. They made an awesome card in Najeela will probably be one of the most sought-after cards from the set for all time.

EDHREC is a great resource for seeing what cards players have been using for their Najeela EDH decks so far. There are deck lists for just about every budget, too.

Looking for a multi-color land that will help the mana base of your Omnath, Locus of Rage or Horde of Notions Commander deck? Primal Beyond is one of the tribal lands from Lorwyn and Morningtide. The Elemental land usually has gone overlooked. Recently, however, there's been a lot of interest in it, especially with the growing popular of the two aforementioned Commanders in EDH.

When it enters play, you have to reveal an Elemental card from your hand. If you don't, Primal Beyond comes into play tapped. That's usually not going to be an issue in the right deck. Primal Beyond allows you to tap it for one colorless mana - especially useful for the new Colorless casting costs of the Oath of the Gatewatch Eldrazi. In addition, Primal Beyond can tap for any color of mana, but you can only spend it to play Elemental spells or activated abilities of Elementals.

The best application for this card is to help cast Horde of Notions or use its 5-color ability to cast any Elemental card from the graveyard. But even in a two color deck like Omnath, Locus of Rage, who has plenty of Elementals in his own horde, this can be a helpful color-fixer.

Other Commander decks that may be able to use Primal Beyond include Animar, Soul of Elements and Maelstrom Wanderer. In the case of those two Commanders, though, there may not be enough Elementals besides themselves to be worth including this niche land. Still, it's a good option to keep in mind if you're looking for inexpensive ways to upgrade the mana-bases of Elemental happy decks.

Leyline of Anticipation is a popular Enchantment from the Magic 2011 Core Set that sees play in many Magic the Gathering Commander (EDH) decks. It has the same effect as the artifactVedalken Orrery, which is a colorless artifact that costs the same converted mana cost of four. This mono-Blue Leyline once even saw more play than its colorless counterpart that can fit into so many more decks.

Many decks that play Leyline of Anticipation also play Vedalken Orrery. The major advantage to any of the Leylines in Magic is that if you have it in your opening hand, you can put it right into play. Having every nonland card in your hand able to played at instant speed can work well in any deck. But, Blue decks in particular like to have the Flash ability, especially for their sorceries. While Vedalken Orrery can fit into just about any deck being a colorless artifact, Leyline of Anticipation has the distinction of being able to start the game in play, which gives it an advantage over the Orrery.

Another reason for Blue decks liking Flash so much is that Blue-centric decks like to keep open mana for counter-magic. If for whatever reason a counter-spell isn't required, that would be mana that's otherwise wasted. With Leyline of Anticipation, you can then cast something that you would have to usually wait for your own turn while your opponent is still going. It would be a creature or artifact that you otherwise would have to wait until your own turn to cast. Preferably, it's best to flash in cards at the end of an opponent's turn.

One deck that makes great use of this Leyline is the Commander 2015 Legendary,Arjun, the Shifting Flame. Arjun is one of the more tricky decks to play. Most of that deck's key cards are Artifacts, Enchantments, and Sorceries. Arjun favors the Leyline over the Orrery since you have a chance to begin the game with it on the field, which gives the deck a definite edge early on. It's a slow deck to begin with to set up all of the pieces, so having the Flash available is more important here than many other decks.

Other Commanders who have used Leyline of Anticipation on a regular basis include:

Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

Narset, Enlightened Master

Kruphix, God of Horizons

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

Damia, Sage of Stone

Nekusar, the Mindrazer

Mizzix of the Izmagnus

Riku of Two Reflections

Rashmi and Narset are the most popular of these, so they are the decks typically garner most of this Leyline's demand.

Leyline of Anticipationdoesn't see any regular Constructed play outside of Vintage Goblin Charbelcher combo decks. It doesn't see any real play in Legacy, although Leyline of Anticipation did make a Legacy appearance back in 2014 in a rather creative Leylines deck. The Leyline has popped up in the occasional Jeskai Control deck in Modern, but not recently. Still, it’s a really solid enchantment that has a home in many EDH / Commander decks.

For years, Aura-happy Commanders such as Bruna, Light of Alabaster recruited the services of a 6-mana creature by the name of Auratouched Mage. Although 6 mana (5W) for only a 3/3 looks pretty costly, the Mage has a very nice ability. Whenever it enters the battlefield, he allows you to search your library for an Aura card that can enchant it. If the Mage was still in play when its ability resolved, you attached said Aura to it. If not, the Aura went into your hand. Either way, it was a fairly useful tutor that has been played in Commander for quite some time.

Boonweaver Giant from Magic 2015 is a functionally better version of Auratouched Mage. He gets to search your graveyard, hand, and/or library for an Aura card, then you put it on him. Even though he’s 7 mana, which is one more than Auratouched Mage, he can search more places. He’s also a 4/4, so he’s a bit tougher than his predecessor. The downside is that, unlike Auratouched Mage, if he’s removed from the board before that Aura can be attached to him, the Aura simply goes to the graveyard. So, he’s both better and worse.

Of course, if you play either of these cards, or both, alongside a Commander like Bruna, Light of Alabaster, this won’t matter. Bruna doesn’t care where your Auras are, whether they’re in your hand, in your graveyard, or attached to one of your other creatures. So while Auratouched Mage may be better about ensuring a card ends up in your possession no matter what, Bruna’s not going to care as long as you got that powerful Aura (say, Eldrazi Conscription, Corrupted Conscience, or Celestial Mantle) out of the library and into a place where she can grab it. If you’re playing a deck like Zur the Enchanter or Krond the Dawn-Clad, however, Boonweaver Giant getting killed is a bit more unfortunate. At least you get the Aura out of the library.

Boonweaver Giant is never going to see play outside of Commander. Seven mana is just too much for a card that’s little more than a tutor in pretty much any other format. Heliod’s Pilgrim at common is much more cost-effective. In fact, the Pilgrim is even better alongside Bruna than this Giant. The Pilgrim is better in Zur and Krond, as well. Boonweaver Giant has definitely been included in Bruna decks over time, but that deck doesn’t play a lot of creatures. To be honest, a 7 drop is a stretch when you already have Auratouched Mage and Sovereigns of Lost Alara at 6 mana each. It’s the tutoring effect that you care about, really. It’s still playable in more than a few Aura-happy decks, just for purposes of redundancy - a feature that’s important in Commander.

Unfortunately for the Giant, overall Auratouched Mage has continued to see far more play in Commander. Boonweaver Giant does see lots of play alongside Bruna, but even then, the Mage continues to supplant it as the more popular option. But, there is actually one deck that makes good use of Boonweaver Giant's services, and it's not one you'd necessarily expect: Karador, Ghost Chieftain!In Karador, Ghost Chieftain, Boonweaver Giant is played alongside an Urza's Destiny enchantment calledPattern of Rebirth. There's a pretty sweet combo with these cards, along with Fiend Hunter and Reveillark. The combo is a little complex, but once you have it down, it's pretty awesome.

The Boonweaver Giant / Pattern of Rebirth Combo

First, you need to have a sacrifice outlet, such as Carrion Feeder or Viscera Seer, to sacrifice Boonweaver Giant to. Then, when Boonweaver enters play, you search out Pattern of Rebirth. So, what Pattern of Rebirth does:

When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard from play, that creature’s controller may search his or her library for a creature card and put that card into play. If that player does, he or she then shuffles his or her library.

With Pattern of Rebirth's ability, you find Karmic Guide. The Guide returns Boonweaver to play, then you get Pattern of Rebirth back attached to the Giant. Sacrifice Boonweaver again and search out Fiend Hunter. With Fiend Hunter's exile ability, you choose Karmic Guide.

You then sacrifice Fiend Hunter to bring Karmic Guide back into play. You use the Guide to get Boonweaver back, as well as Pattern of Rebirth. This time, you sacrifice Boonweaver to use Pattern's ability to find Reveillark. Then, sacrifice Karmic Guide, then Reveillark, which can return both Karmic Guide and Fiend Hunter to play. Use the Karmic Guide to get back Boonweaver and use Fiend Hunter to exile Karmic Guide again.

Now, you can sacrifice Boonweaver to get any creature from your deck. Then, sacrifice Fiend Hunter to return Karmic Guide again, which will bring back Reveillark. You repeat the cycle until you bring out whatever creatures you need for game winning combos from your deck. If no one stops the combo, you pretty much just win the game. Basically you're hoping to get a couple of infinite pairs on the board with something like Altar of Dementia or Blood Artist in play. There's a whole bunch of things you can do with this sort of Karador combo deck.

Really, Boonweaver Giant is a pretty solid card, but being seven mana, it takes a really particular deck, like Karador, to use him to his fullest potential. I'd argue he's pretty good in any Abzan (green/white/black) deck that can run those cards mentioned in the Pattern of Rebirth combo, although Karador is typically the Commander you'd want to run with that sort of strategy. He's a pretty cool card and definitely one that can help you win games in EDH with Karador!

He's also not bad in Bruna, Light of Alabaster EDH decks, either. That I can tell you with experience!

TheCommander 2015 set lived up to its hype, giving my favorite Magic the Gathering format plenty of new tools for the trade of Gathering Magic into 99-card masterpieces. But no Legendary Creature introduced in these five brand new decks has spoken to me more than the Red/Blue Sphinx,Arjun, the Shifting Flame. Overshadowed by the flashy spell-slinging madwoman that's Mizzix of the Izmagnus, Arjun takes the effect of an old Ravnican Enchantment by the name of Mindmoil and makes it a Legendary-level nightmare for your opponents!

While Red and Blue are out of my typical comfort range as color combinations to build around, I'm quite well-acquainted with the infamous Nekusar, the Mindrazer, who as a matter of fact could become very good friends with Arjun. The other new best friend Arjun will be making is our favorite Izzet dragon,Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, who loves when you draw a bunch of cards, too. You'll feel a lot like the X-Men's Gambit flinging burning cards at people's faces - and in the case of Niv-Mizzet, at their creatures' faces, too. So will Arjun play second fiddle to these Legendaries, or will our Sphinx Wizard friend pave his own path to victory?

Haven't heard ever ofMindmoil? Honestly, neither had I until researching this bad boy of a Sphinx. You may notice that the ability of Mindmoil is precisely the same as Arjun's. So how do you take advantage of this ability? You're always having to put your cards back!

What Mindmoil does is provide an environment where you're always getting a fresh hand. And in Commander, having a constant way to refuel is a good thing! So what has Mindmoil's effect done in the past? Unsurprisingly, our good friendNiv-Mizzet the Firemind has acquired the services of this Enchantment in the past. Constantly drawing cards and burning an opponent is Niv-Mizzet's entire game plan. While this card is obviously only one road to victory, it certainly helps the cause.

Another Legendary who has made good use of Mindmoil's ability isGrenzo, Dungeon Warden. Hailing from the plane of Fiora, the backdrop to the unique Conspiracy expansions, Grenzo has the distinction of being able to put cards from the bottom of your deck in your graveyard. How does this help you? If that card happens to be a creature with less than or equal to Grenzo's power, you get it to the battlefield. So, Mindmoil is the perfect way to get lots of creatures into play by setting up what Grenzo can bring to the table. Sadly, Grenzo and Arjun will not be best friends, as being red & black doesn't jive with Arjun's purple mojo (Hey, red and blue make purple, you know!)

Mindmoil as a CommanderBack to our new friend, Arjun, he andNiv-Mizzet the Firemind have been chatting it up, both being denizens of the Ravnican plane (or so it would seem). It's not hard to get ahold of the elder Niv-Mizzet nowadays, since he greeted many eager planeswalkers who delved into the Modern Masters 2015 expansion. So what have the wise Dragon and Sphinx come around to brewing for the wondrous Commander format? Clearly, it is advantageous for them to join forces. But will Arjun occasionally take the lead in a multiplayer showdown and emerge victorious?

Several Commander-loving planeswalkers have been mulling over the pieces necessary to add to Arjun's war chest in search of decisive victory. Fortunately, Niv-Mizzet has already provided him with some powerful suggestions.

Psychosis Crawlerhails from the plane of Mirrodin, or rather the corrupted version of said plane today known as New Phyrexia. However, Niv-Mizzet met up with the Crawler in the past and the two have a very strong working relationship. However, the Lich KingNekusar, the Mindrazer has co-opted the Crawler's services time and again to burn his enemies to the ground.

Much to Arjun's delight, however, Psychosis Crawler has decided to take a leave of absence from the Zombie Wizard's campaign of un-fun Commander matches. He's decided, probably with the advice of Niv-Mizzet, to assist Arjun by making himself easily available in Arjun's own Commander 2015 deck, Seize Control. By affecting all opponents, the Crawler helps Arjun to certain victory by simply allowing our Sphinx friend to benefit from just being himself!

Niv-Mizzet has also used his many connections to ask the Legendary Azami, Lady of Scrolls if Arjun may be allowed to recruit her familiar, Tomorrow. While Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar has an ability that does not seem to perfectly synergize with Arjun, since Arjun needs the ability to be a bit more selective with the cards that he draws, being able to choose from three options is very important. It may seem counter-intuitive, but if the burn by drawing plan isn't working out, Tomorrow can help Arjun find the cards he needs to work towards victory.

Also, Alhammarret, High Arbiter, a fellow Sphinx, has offered the use of his Archive in Arjun's exploits.

Alhammarret's Archive is a wonder of an artifact. While the lifegain that the Archive offers will not be incredibly useful for Arjun's purposes, drawing extra cards is crucial for our Sphinx friend's gameplan. Besides, the more cards that Arjun can have in hand, the more options you'll have at your disposal.

Another Enchantment calledThought Reflection does much the same thing as the Archive's second effect. However, you get to draw 2 cards for any card you draw, including the first one you draw every turn. Arjun is already familiar with this Enchantment and has seen that the Commander 2015 deck he's included within has a copy of it inside.

The Locust God!

A fellow Legendary from the plane of Amonkhet has also offered his assistance to Arjun! The Locust God has happily blessed our Sphinx friend with the offering of his ability to create lots of little 1/1 Insect creature tokens just by drawing cards. Since Arjun is always drawing us cards, The Locust God is happy to bless him with a swarm of little guys ready to attack or defend.

So is Arjun the "dark horse" of Commander 2015? Have we not yet seen the best that Arjun can offer? Nekusar rose to prominence when he hit the scene back in 2013. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind has been a mainstay in Commander for years. Arjun may need to practice his trade for awhile before being ready for prime-time. But there are plenty of tools at his disposal to succeed. He may not be there just yet, but it only takes a couple of new cards to bring our card-slinging friend to prominence in the awesome format called EDH!

When compared to his predecessor in the original Zendikar, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is easier to cast with a potentially much more devastating ability. He only costs 4 mana to the Bloodchief of Ghet’s 7 mana casting cost, meaning he gets into play much sooner. Also, the Bloodchief has a tap ability, which while good, it doesn’t beat the Traitor’s ability. The Traitor of Ghet causes any opponent’s non-token creature that dies to be exiled and you get a 2/2 Zombie token out of it. Also, you can pay 2B and sacrifice a Vampire or Zombie, except himself, to put 2 +1/+1 counters on Kalitas. He even has lifelink!

In Standard, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet proved himself to be a major competitor, making him a $20-25 card in mid-April 2016. He’s pretty good in Modern, too! Because of this, his price tag put him a bit out of reach for some Commander players for some time. When he left Standard, however, his price dropped closer to $12, allowing for more people, especially EDH players, to fit him into their collections.

There are so many good mono-Black Commanders already. But Kalitas not only can get you an army of Zombie tokens while shutting off any graveyard-based strategies. He can also make himself bigger, meaning he could potentially take out players on his own.

So, why hasn’t Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet become more of a player in EDH where it seems like he would be very powerful? Part of the problem is that he prevents any decks that work at all out of the graveyard to function, while still being able to use your own graveyard. Basically, he can draw hate very quickly. As a member of the 99, he’s still quite useful, but again he draws a lot of hate.

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is definitely one of the more powerful Legendary creatures from recent sets. The pieces are there for him to lead formidable decks, and perhaps a bit too formidable for your everyday Commander group to want to deal with on a regular basis.

The Legendary Dragons of Kamigawa are some of the more memorable cards from Champions of Kamigawa. Two of them are considered to be very good, two more of them are pretty good in Commander, but one has never really caught on as a Commander himself. This is the Green Dragon, Jugan, the Rising Star. His effect is good enough that he’s seen play as part of the 99 in some decks. But can you build around him?

Since Jugan’s ability is all about +1/+1 counters, you sort of want to go all out on this theme. Unfortunately, a lot of the best counter-abusing cards are in White. So in Green, you’ll want to take advantage of all of the token producers and use cards that can benefit from having a bunch of counters placed on them. On top of lots of ways to ramp your mana and create lots of tokens, there are plenty of ways to make your token army deadly.

Thanks to one TappedOut user with a decent Jugan Commander list, I was able to come up with this deck list below. Whereas the list I found focused primarily on tokens, I found other cards to blend the counter and token strategies in even better ways.

Many of the Legendary Creatures in Magic the Gathering’s Legendary-happy Kamigawa Block are absolutely terrible as Commanders. A few of them are actually pretty cool. One you rarely hear about is Infernal Kirin.

Similar to his Blue counterpart, Cloudhoof Kirin, he has an ability that activates whenever you cast an Arcane or Spirit spell. Unlike Cloudhoof, though, who mills cards from the top of a target player’s deck, Infernal Kirin causes players to discard cards equal to the converted mana cost of the card you cast. This makes it a lot more hit or miss. But, it can be potentially devastating, as well.

There are plenty of good Spirit and Arcane spells, but not nearly as many in Black as there are in Blue. However, the good news is that there is plenty of support for discard in Black. So while all-out Spirit Tribal is necessary for Cloudhoof Kirin, the same is not true of Infernal Kirin.

The Spirits and Arcane spells you do play in an Infernal Kirin deck are somewhat random. But because it’s the converted mana cost of the cards you care about, they don’t even really have to be all that good to begin with. It’s a fun deck to try, even if it’s not the most consistent at following the Commander’s gameplan. You can actually build an Infernal Kirin deck for as little as $40!

As a cat lover, I absolutely adore this card. As a Magic player, I absolutely adore this card. Brimaz, King of Oreskos (Amazon | TCGPlayer) is a 3/4 Cat Soldier with Vigilance that costs only 1WW to cast (1, White, White). On top of that, he's a Legendary Creature, making him a perfect Commander for Cat/Soldier Tribal.

With the release of the Commander 2017 deck, Feline Ferocity (Amazon | TCGPlayer), Brimaz, King of Oreskos got a new look from many EDH players looking to improve the Cat Tribal pre-constructed deck. In late August 2017, he hit $16.75 a copy after being under $10 for a long time. Let's take a look at why players wanted to pick him up so suddenly.

Whenever Brimaz attacks, you put a 1/1 white Cat Soldier creature token with Vigilance onto the battlefield attacking. Whenever he blocks, you also put a 1/1 white Cat Soldier token with Vigilance, blocking that creature. While these tokens likely are going to die, they become extra things for your opponent to be concerned about during combat. Brimaz is a very solid mythic rare creature.

The first deck that came to mind for Brimaz was a competitive White Weenie aggro deck in Standard. Indeed, he did see play in some highly competitive White Weenie decks, including this one deck piloted by Sam Black at the 2015 World Championship. He also popped up in a wide range of other aggressive strategies, such as Mardu Aggro, Selesyna Aggro, and even Abzan Midrange. He was a very solid card.

While Cat Aggro never become a thing in the Standard environment that Brimaz entered, the King of Oreskos still saw a fair amount of Standard play just on the basis of being an aggressive creatures that brought little buddies with him. He’s also popped up in the occasional Modern deck and even shows up in the occasional Legacy Death and Taxes deck.

But right away, it was very clear that his usefulness in Commander was going to make up most of his long-term value.

Brimaz, King of Oreskos in Cat Tribal EDH / Commander

With new Cats from Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation, and Commander 2017, Cat Tribal just became a serious deck to be reckoned with in EDH. But, many of the newer cats are Green or Green and White. There are a couple of new Green and White Legendary Creatures that would probably serve as better commanders for Cat Tribal. But Brimaz can still play a big role in a Cat Tribal deck. If you want to stay mono White, though, then it's perfectly fine to use him as your Commander.

As a Commander, there are so many ways to abuse these incoming tokens, it's not funny. First of all, there’s Cathar's Crusade. This is an enchantment that triggers each time a creature enters the battlefield on your side. It becomes ridiculous with these effects in play, giving all of your creatures a +1/+1 counter for each token that enters. There’s also a token doubler called Anointed Procession which can double the amount of tokens that Brimaz creates.

Also, if you're playing Coat of Arms, this Cat Soldier token will pump up all of your Cats and Soldiers by 1/1 just by entering. It’s also useful alongside Door of Destinies If you're playing Cat or Soldier tribal (or a combination of the two). While the tokens don't tick up the counters on the Door, their power and toughness are helped by it.

Once a 30 dollar card, the price of Brimaz, King of Oreskos fluctuated a fair bit during his time in Standard. He preordered for as much as $35, and fell to around $20 shortly around the release of Magic 2015. But as the Born of the Gods set stopped being opened, Brimaz saw his price rebound to about $30 around the release of Khans of Tarkir. After his rotation from Standard, his price dipped below $10. His lowest point was around $7 in March of 2017, but with a price that low, people finally started buying him again.

With the spoiling of Feline Ferocity, his price jumped about 10 percent from under 9 to just over 10 bucks. But towards the end of the month, his price jumped north of $16, before settling back to $14. As the most valuable card from Born of the Gods, barring a reprint, Brimaz’s price should go up as more Commander interest buys him up. While it’s unlikely that Brimaz will hit $30 again based on just Commander demand alone, because he’s been seen in other formats, a surprise showing could cause his price to spike that highly again.

In an case, Brimaz, King of Oreskos is definitely worth buying. He’s good in a wide range of Commander decks, not just Cat Tribal, although he’s exceptional in those decks. With playability on the fringe of Modern and even Legacy, Brimaz is one surprise showing away from being $30 again. But, it’s more likely that he’ll just be a steady gainer back to $20 over the next few years, outside of a buyout event.

Helm of the Gods is an equipment from Magic Origins that costs only 1 mana with an equip cost of only 1 mana. The Helm gives its equipped creature +1/+1 for each enchantment you control. In decks that live and die with Enchantments, this artifact is definitely worth considering.

Immediately what comes to mind for me is Commander decks with a heavy Enchantment theme. This includes Daxos the Returned and the hated Zur the Enchanter, but also Voltron Aura-loving commanders like Bruna, Light of Alabaster,Krond the Dawn-Clad and Uril the Miststalker. With such a minimal commitment of mana, the Helm could deal those last few points of commander damage you need for the win. It can go on any creature, though. Any deck that loves enchantments can use it.

Does it work in Constructed? Green/Black Constellation decks during the Journey into Nyx era could use it. Heroic decks could use it. But the Helm never really fit into those lists. Bogles decks in Modern could use it. But, again, it doesn't fit in what is already a deck vulnerable to dead draws. Modern Prison decks could find a slot or two and stick it on one of the few creatures in the deck. But that is hardly a top tier deck, and it's more like cute tech.

Still, Helm of the Gods can be an absolute killer in Commander. It's a card that gets better as you go. You just play it as soon as you need it. It could be a game-ender, and even a 2/2 boost is worth the investment. Unlike an Aura, it's usually going to stick on the board when the equipped creature is dealt with. Helm of the Gods' price may never make it a money card, but if a ton of enchantments are going to be in play for you, the Helm at least needs to be considered.

The Commander 2017 pre-constructed decks for Magic the Gathering have introduced more than a few very strong cards for the Commander format. One of these is a one-mana Equipment called Bloodforged Battle-Axe. It's like an improved version of Bonesplitter, except that this axe can actually copy itself!

At only 1 mana to cast and 2 mana to equip, Bloodforged Battle-Axe gives the equipped creature +2/+0. Also, whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, you create a token that's a copy of Bloodforged Battle-Axe! That's a pretty awesome way to stack up Equipment in a hurry!

This Axe offers a very minor initial investment that can copy itself many, many times over. Also, the tokens then can copy themselves. So if a creature has multiple Bloodforged Battle-Axes equipped, it can create a whole token of Axe tokens in a hurry.

Another great thing about the way Bloodforged Battle-Axe is worded, a creature with double strike that successfully deals damage to a player can cause this Equipment to be copied twice! On the second trigger, you can end up with three total Axe tokens, because the first token will copy itself, as well! If you have something like Parallel Lives or Doubling Season in play, it becomes all the more ridiculous.

Plus, there's another Equipment in Commander 2017 called Hammer of Nazahn. This legendary artifact allows you to immediately attach an Equipment that comes into play to a creature. That means all of those tokens can be equipped right away for free! It also doesn't hurt to play something like Puresteel Paladinto make equip costs cost zero mana instead, allowing you to use these tokens quickly.

Imagine a deck that plays Hellkite Tyrant having a card like this. With the Tyrant's instant win condition of having 20 artifacts in play, you may be able to automatically win a lot of games just having a bunch of copies of this Axe in play!

There are many advantages to having a card like this, especially in decks that care about how many artifacts you have in play. There will be plenty of Commander decks that will find a slot for this one-mana artifact, even some that may not be 100 percent Equipment based. Any deck that benefits by having a lot of artifacts in play can find a home for this unique Equipment.

Of all the Battle for Zendikar cards we reviewed on Gaming Successfully, one in particular was very popular. It wasn’t the new Kiora, Master of the Depths or any of the other planeswalkers. The most popular of all of our Battle for Zendikar spoilers was Bring to Light. It's a very interesting sorcery that costs 3UG and has Converge.

In our review, we found that there is plenty of potential for Bring to Light. This is especially the case in Commander, and in 4 and 5-color decks where its true power can be realized. Considering the amount of interest this particular card has, we’ve decided to go into greater depth into how Bring to Light can be used most effectively.

Bring to Light in Modern

As far as Constructed goes, it will take quite a specific brew that doesn’t mind waiting to have 4 or 5 colors of mana to seek out a specific creature and/or combo piece. There was a lot of fun during the early days of Battle for Zendikar Standard when people were cheating Siege Rhinos into play. It wasn't a bad deck and could win some games, although it wasn't going to win any major tournaments.

The one deck that I had in mind which seemed a natural fit was Scapeshift in Modern. Scapeshift decks already run four colors and has access to five. The sorcery Scapeshift itself costs 4 mana, so barring counter-magic, you could tutor up Scapeshift and win the game. I just don’t know what you’d cut from the deck to play a 5 mana sorcery that isn’t an optimal draw a good chunk of the time. People have definitely been trying, though, with varied success.

One interesting theme that has been discussed surrounding Bring to Light is using it cast the 0 CMC casting cost spells from Time Spiral: Ancestral Vision, Hypergenesis, Living End, Restore Balance, and Wheel of Fate. These spells have some powerful effects, but can’t ordinarily be cast unless they are Suspended with the costs on the card or cast for free by a Cascade Spell. In fact, Cascade cards have been used to great effect with Living End in the infamous Modern combo deck and has been also done at times with Restore Balance. Bring to Light gives you another way to play these cards for free without investing any extra colored mana. But is it worth ramping up to 5 mana just to have a chance to tutor them out?

The most important aspect to consider in Modern is how rampant counter-magic is in the format, especially Remand. Who wants to Bring to Light a Living End only to have it countered, or worse, put into their hand where you then have to suspend it? Granted, this is the same deal as with Cascade, which requires you to still cast the spell, even if it is for free. But with Cascade, you typically get the 3 or 4 mana to cast them far more quickly than you would with Bring to Light.

The chance of your opponent essentially countering 2 cards at once feels bad. With the Cascade spells, you typically will just have an opponent counter that and not simply wait for you to tutor the card you really want before actually casting a counterspell. A 5 mana card just seems a bit too slow to jam into Constructed if all it does is set you up to potentially waste one of your combo cards and possibly a whole turn.

The one of these five that I feel could benefit the most from Bring to Light is Hypergenesis, a card that only sees play in Commander decks like Phelddagrif and Maelstrom Wanderer. Hypergenesis is super good if you have a stacked hand of bombs. Being a “group hug” type of Commander, Phelddagrif decks don’t mind suspending it until such time that it’s okay to let everyone dump their hands onto the table. Maelstrom Wanderer would just cascade into it at often random times, making it not quite optimal for the deck.

Bring to Light makes it so that you can play Hypergenesis when you actually want to play it. This should help the card’s playability a bit. The only requirements are that you play blue and green, and there are plenty of Blue/Green commanders happy to oblige. But often Hypergenesis will be the best target, especially in a two-color deck. Getting a Birds of Paradise or another 1 or 2 mana creature doesn’t feel so powerful for 3UG.

The true power of Bring to Light will be in five-color Commander decks. This card’s true power comes from being able to simultaneously tutor and cast 4-5 CMC spells from the deck. The question is what spells are there for Bring to Light to get and how powerful is it as one of the 99. Underwhelmed by its Constructed prospects, it seems that there is real potential for this 5-mana Converging sorcery in Commander. Let’s take a look.

Imagine a tutor that could go get a Dragon and put it directly onto the battlefield without having to pay its mana cost! True, Sarkhan Unbroken can help you do that in a big way. So how can Bring to Light help the 5-color Dragon deck? Most of your best Dragons are 6 or more mana, but there are some targets that this tutor can find you in a pinch.

One particular card that Bring to Light is good at getting is Crux of Fate, which is a 5-drop Black board wipe that can destroy all Dragons or all non-Dragons. In a dedicated Dragon deck, this is a sweet boardwipe. Being able to tutor it up and play it all for five mana is pretty sweet, providing you can tap WUBRG.

Creatures you could get with Bring to Light include Dragonlord’s Servant (1R to let you cast Dragon spells for 1 less), Dragonspeaker Shaman (1RR to let you cast Dragon spells for 2 less), Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon (who can kill opponents out of nowhere with Infect, and Thunderbreak Regent (which makes it painful for opponents to use targeted removal on your dragons). Kaalia of the Vast and Stormbreath Dragon are other creatures you tend to see in Scion that would be Brought into the Light easily.

Sorceries you may want to tutor up with Bring to Light include Fearsome Awakening (reanimate a Dragon with +2/+2) and Living Death (awesome with lots of Dragons in the grave). For instants, you have Sarkhan’s Triumph for 2R to tutor up any Dragon to your hand - which probably doesn’t seem like the most cost-effective way to do so, but it works in a pinch. You also have access to a suite of removal spells in Utter End, Putrefy, and Mortify. These cost 4, 3, and 3 respectively, but in the right spot, paying 5 with 3 or 4 different colored mana could be the difference in a game.

Verdict: B in this deck. There are enough solid target for Bring to Light to rarely be a dead card once you get to 3 out of 5 colors of mana. It gives you access to a bomb like Living Death, a one-sided boardwipe like Crux of Fate, and a few of your utility creatures. Grabbing a removal spell in a pinch isn’t bad, either, since otherwise you’d spend a Demonic Tutor or even Diabolic Tutor seeking them out sometimes.

If there were any archetype that appreciated Bring to Light, it would be Slivers. There are very few Slivers that even cost more than 5 mana. Those would be Battering Sliver (5R), Fury Sliver (5R), Megantic Sliver (5G), and Groundshaker Sliver (6G). Groundshaker and Battering Sliver both give trample, but Battering Sliver helps all Slivers, while Groundshaker only helps yours. Horned Sliver gives all Slivers trample for only 2G, however, so you can live without those two in play. Megantic Sliver gives all your Sliver +3/+3 and Fury Sliver gives all Slivers (including those you don’t control) double strike. Those would be the only 4 that you would care about that can’t be tutored up by Bring to Light.

The coolest thing about Bring to Light in Slivers is that you can get any of the WUBRG Slivers into play with it. Whichever one you’re not playing as your Commander can be almost essentially be cast from the deck! Slivers have such a toolbox to draw from that Bring to Light is essentially: WUBRG: Cast target Sliver with converted mana cost 5 or less from your deck. That’s extremely good and can probably be a game-winning play in some circumstances.

Beyond that, Bring to Light can tutor up Distant Melody (to draw you a bunch of cards) or Patriarch’s Bidding (to bring back a ton of Slivers). It also can tutor up Utter End to exile any nonland permanent that’s bugging you and/or preventing you from winning the game outright.

Yes, Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Tutor and company can get you the card you need when you need it, but getting 2 cards out of 1 is always cool and with Slivers, the synergy is there to make tutoring up the right guy super strong.

Verdict: A- in this deck. It doesn’t get every Sliver ever, but besides Megantic Sliver and Fury Sliver, it can get pretty much anyone you need. Plus tutoring up Distant Melody or Patriarch's Bidding under certain circumstances feels pretty good.

With Battle for Zendikar, Allies have been a big deal. While only a handful became Standard playable, Allies got plenty of good cards for 5-color Ally tribal commander. Best of all, the ones you care about are 5 mana or less, so hurray.

While there weren't any 5 color Legendary Allies printed in Battle for Zendikar, there was one in Oath of the Gatewatch, General Tazri. Because of her 5 color ability, this makes her eligible to play every color Ally in a Commander deck led by her. So can she and the other two 5-color Legends commonly seen with Allies use Bring to Light to their advantage?

Karona, the False God gives all creatures of a chosen type +3/+3 until end of turn whenever she attacks. The downside is that Karona gets to run around the table as each player gets control of her during each upkeep. There are ways around this, like equipping her with Assault Suit or attaching any of the Vow Auras to her, which all prevent her from being able to attack you. Then she can get really fun.

Reaper King is another option, and by using Enchantments like Conspiracy and Xenograft to make all your creatures Scarecrows in addition to their other types, each creature that enters play basically says: destroy target permanent. Ouch.

General Tazri can tutor up any Ally from your deck when she enters the battlefield. While Bring to Light isn't 100 percent necessary, pretty much any Ally you'll want will be CMC 5 or less.

For purposes of Bring to Light, Reaper King is probably the one who can use it the best. With Reaper King, you can tutor up lots of Changeling creatures, which count as both Allies and Scarecrows without any outside assistance. Karona prefers to be more of an Enchantment-happy deck, something that Bring to Light doesn’t really like unless you’re playing all of the Theros block Gods. More on that later.

The best allies you can tutor up? Turntimber Ranger is the most obvious choice, as he costs 5 mana (3GG) and can overrun the board with Wolf tokens. Hagra Diabolist costs 4B and can make opponents lose life rather quickly. Kabira Evangel offers your Allies protection from the color of your choice each time he or another Ally enters battle. Seascape Aerialist costs 4U and gives all your Allies flying when he or another Ally enters.

From Battle of Zendikar? The only one I’d bother to tutor up is Drana, Liberator of Malakir. Her ability to quickly pump your team is pretty awesome when you’re going for an alpha strike. There’s another one I like, Tajuru Warcaller, who costs 3GG, and has a Rally trigger that gives all your creatures +2/+2 until end of turn. He’s stupidly fragile as a 2/1, though. None of the others seem like considerable enough threats to warrant being pulled out by Bring to Light.

Verdict: C. You can get some nice advantage by tutoring out Changelings and the right Ally when you need one, but it’s not really best suited in the 99 when it comes to Allies. In a more typical Reaper King deck, though, it’s going to be fine for grabbing any Changeling or Scarecrow you want, as most are 5 or less CMC. But even in that build it’s barely a C card choice.

Karona EnchantressBecause of the fact that Karona works best with the five Vows (and Assault Suit) being played on her to make her downside into an upside, it makes sense that she’ll want lots of Enchantments surrounding her. While she makes an interesting Tribal commander, which is why some Ally players like her, the real cool thing she can do is play God Tribal.That’s right. Karona is typically built with the Theros Gods in mind. All 15 are played in some Karona lists. Best of all, all of the Theros block gods cost 5 CMC or less. So any of these can be solid targets with Bring to Light. Karametra, God of Harvests perhaps isn’t the best in this deck, but she’s almost always going to get you at least a land or two (her ability to grab Forests and Plains aren’t limited to basic lands). Having between 10-15 realistic targets for Bring to Light seems a decent plan.You can go get Chromanticore, too, but you can’t use its alternate casting cost to Bestow it on another creature, which is probably the best thing about it in the first place, so that’s not really going to ever be a realistic target unless it happens to be your only remaining target for Bring to Light or something.Verdict: B-, while not necessary as one of the 99, Bring to Light can seek out any of the Theros Gods you want or need at any given time. It’s otherwise pretty weak in an Enchantress deck, unless you’re using it to cast Demonic Tutor or Diabolic Tutor from your deck, which isn’t really that great.

The best targets in Child of Alara aren’t really that wonderful. It’s typically a control deck based around planeswalkers. That said, Theros Gods appear in quite a few Child lists, as their being indestructible is really good with Child’s effect of blowing up all non-lands. You can also get any wraths, such as Supreme Verdict or Wrath of God with Bring to Light. Other than that, though, there’s nothing else exciting to get.

Verdict: C-, it has decent targets but Bring to Light is a bit of an awkward choice for this deck’s 99.

Here we have another Commander that loves Planeswalkers, but also really likes the Theros gods. Also, Child of Alara being able to be in the 99 gives Bring to Light a saucy target. Maelstrom Archangel, which is also seen in some Child builds, is also lots of fun to play with, cheating any nonland card into play whenever she deals combat damage to a player. Grabbing boardwipes is okay, too.

Verdict: C. Not sure I’d play it in my 99, but it can tutor up Child of Alara, which bumps it up a few points.

Tutoring up Mulldrifter and Shriekmaw at CMC 5 feels OK to me. Getting Torrent Elemental at 4U, a card really only playable in Elemental Tribal EDH, seems OK, too. Tutoring Incandescent Soulstoke, the Elemental lord who can let you cheat Elementals from your hand into play for 1R is less exciting, but fine. Soulstoke forces you to sacrifice those Elementals, but Horde of Notions can always get them back. Ingot Chewer and Wispmare are fine for value plays, but don’t seem worth casting Bring to Light. Grabbing Reveillark seems fine to reanimate a couple of little guys seems fine though.

There are a bunch of other cool Elementals you can get. Animar, Soul of Elements would be my favorite target. Forgotten Ancient can rack up quite a few +1/+1 counters for you to share with the rest of your army. Lord of Extinction is one of the most powerful Elementals ever, and he’s only 3BG. You could also bring in Fusion Elemental, an 8/8 for WUBRG - just to say you did it.

While not quite as exciting as what you can do with Slivers, Bring to Light does go get you your value creatures, although in the case of the Evoke creatures, you’re probably better off naturally drawing them and Evoking them to naturally reuse with Horde of Notions, anyway.

Verdict: B+. You get a pretty sweet variety of value with Elementals as you do with Slivers. Being able to tutor out Animar is pretty sweet, too.

Typically, Cromat is a “Super Friends” Commander, in that the deck plays all the Planeswalkers you can stuff into a deck. Other players just build 5-color good stuff decks. Basically, anything that you’d want to get in Child of Alara or Progenitus decks you can and would get here.

Verdict: C-, you’ll want to focus on the Planeswalkers, probably, and this doesn’t feel like an optimal use of a slot in your 99.

Atog tribal is a cute deck, but besides grabbing Living Death or Patriarch’s Bidding (which are good in Slivers, too) and the usual suspects like Eternal Witness, this is probably the worst of the 5-color decks to play this

Verdict: D+. I wouldn’t play it in here. It would work, but it’s sub-optimal.

Overall, Bring to Light does work in a lot of 5-color strategies, but it’s probably not optimal in every deck. It can take the place of Diabolic Tutor in some decks, especially Slivers and Elementals, which is not nothing. If the tuck rule, which allowed players to return your Commander to the deck, wasn’t changed to allow you to prevent your Commander from being returned to the deck, this would always be a pretty good way to get your Commander back. As such, you technically still could, especially if you’ve cast your Commander a bunch of times in that game. This is a pretty sweet toolbox card in the right deck.

Could Bring to Light be good in other Commander decks that aren’t 5-color? I wouldn’t suggest it in Maelstrom Wanderer, as Cascading into it means you can only get 0 CMC spells. But there are plenty of Blue/Green/X decks that want certain creatures, instants or sorceries, so I definitely wouldn’t count it out. However, as we’ve seen, the real power is getting that full 5 CMC value out of the card you tutor, so in 2 or 3 color decks you’re definitely getting diminished returns. U/G/x decks have some decent targets, but most of them are 4 or 5 mana, so Bring to Light is pretty useless.

With the Commander 2016 decks came 4-color Legendary Creatures, along with the Partner Commanders which also allow for 4-color EDH decks. Bring to Light seems pretty solid in these decks, seeking out key spells at various points in the game. That's a whole other article, though.

I’d really love to see someone make Bring to Light a way to find the final piece of an unbeatable combo. I’m fairly certain that won’t happen outside of some crazy fringe Friday Night Magic deck or in casual play. What I am certain of is that Bring to Light will see some play in 5-color and other decks in Commander, which should keep it from ever falling to true bulk status.

How would you use Bring to Light in Commander? Or if you dare, how would you use it in Constructed?

At the time, that I found this decklist, it hadn't yet been played on MTGGoldfish's Commander Clash video series. It would be featured on the Penny Dreadful episode of Commander Clash. In this episode, SaffronOlive would play this deck against four other decks that cost around 1 event ticket to build on Magic Online! (This Isperia deck costs about $30 to build in paper, which is still mega cheap!)

"Penny Dreadful" is a variant of Commander similar to 1DH in paper. In 1DH, you build a deck with cards that cost $1 or less each. In Penny Dreadful, you're looking to build an entire 100 card Commander deck - including the Commander - for 1 event ticket or less. This means spending only 0.01 tix - roughly a penny - on each card. While card values fluctuate, there's an official Penny Dreadful list that changes with each set release, so this is what you should build from. You can also use the Scryfall search engine, which has a filter for Penny Dreadful.

If you ever wanted to play Sphinx Tribal, or Flying Tribal in general, this is a nice cheap way to do so! There are three other "Penny Dreadful" decks featured in this Commander Clash video, led by Hazezon Tamar, Brago, the Eternal, and Shu Yun, the Tempest.

If anyone would like me to do an in-depth deck tech on this deck, or any other deck, Penny Dreadful or otherwise, I’d be happy to do so. Just let me know. Until then, enjoy this extremely cheap EDH list!

Looking for a Commander to lead a Tribal Vampire EDH deck so you can jam in all your new Vampires from Shadows Over Innistrad? Wondering how to slip in the notoriously blue flip-side of Elusive Tormentor: Insidious Mist? Garza Zol, Plague Queenjust may be the gal to be your Vampire Commander.

From way back in Coldsnap, Garza Zol is not the most popular Vampire Commander out there. But because of the three colors in her mana cost, she allows you to splash Blue. This allows you to play the often overlooked but color intensive Blood Tyrant, plus another semi-popular blue/black Vampire Commander Szadek, Lord Of Secrets. Meanwhile, you can jam other Blue staples such as Counterspell, Cyclonic Rift, Hinder, Rhystic Study and more.

What’s cool about Garza Zol is while she’s expensive to cast, she can get bigger fairly easily and also draw you cards. You can just play all of the best Vampires available. In particular, Shadows over Innistrad provides some of the best ones ever printed for use in a Tribal deck. Falkenrath Gorger gives all of the Vampires in your hand Madness, allowing you to play them as you discard them from your hand! Olivia, Mobilized for War allows you to discard a card to give another creature a +1/+1 counter and haste. It even makes it a Vampire! Asylum Visitor and Indulgent Aristocrat are playable, too.

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is another powerful Vampire that you can consider. But due to his strength in competitive play, his price has been as high as $30 - although it's settled to closer to $7.

Drana, Liberator of Malakir is another Vampire you could consider not listed above, and she’s reasonably priced around $5.

For non-creature spells, if you don’t have the $25 to shell out for a Demonic Tutor, then Dark Petition will usually work just as well in its place for less than a quarter of the price. Otherwise, the deck is fairly affordable and great for anyone who wants to take Tribal Vampires for a spin with the best cards available.

Originally from the days of Alara Reborn, Filigree Angel has found herself so useful in Commander that she's been reprinted in Commander decks on two separate occasions. When Filigree Angel enters the battlefield, you gain 3 life for each artifact you control, which includes itself. A 4/4 flyer that gains you, at the very least, 3 life for 8 mana doesn’t sound incredibly cost-effective.

But in Commander, 5WWU isn’t that restrictive of a casting cost. It's especially worth casting by turn 8, as well, since the life-gain that one would get from Filigree’s effect by that point will be substantial. With artifact cards like Sol Ring, Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Darksteel Ingot, andSensei’s Divining Top a part of many Commander decks, you’re talking about double-digit life gains whenever this card hits the board.

Also, while a 4/4 flyer doesn’t seem impressive on the surface, there are so many pumps for artifact creatures that exist in Commander that this Angel probably will be a good deal beefier when it hits the board. Add to that we have yet another Angel for Angel lovers, and one that’s light on the wallet (they sell for only about 50 cents USD a copy.) Filigree Angel was also reprinted in one of the Commander 2013 and one of the Commander 2016 decks.

While hardly one of the best artifact creatures around, Filigree Angel has its uses, especially in an artifact deck that cares about life-gain. There are quite a few Commander decks out there that revolve around artifacts. What better way to keep yourself in the game than double-digit life gain? In particular, the popular Breya, Etherium Shaper plays Filigree Angel a lot. But if you play any artifact Commander deck in White & Blue, you should definitely consider slotting this artifact angel in somewhere.

The Magic Origins “flip walker” experiment has proven to be a success. Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, in particular, succeeded the expectations of many. Nissa, Vastwood Seer saw plenty of Standard play. Liliana, Heretical Healer became a decent mid-range card and extremely popular among the casual crowd. Kytheon would work his way into Standard competitively. Even Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh burned some folks in Standard. In Commander, they've all proved worthy of attention.

Previously, we took a look at the Commander 2014 planeswalkers specifically designed to be your Commander. We found them to overall be better than your average legendary creatures, which is to be expected. These flip walkers blend the two card types in some interesting ways. You have to build around them to ignite their spark, then compliment their ascended abilities, as well.

How has the EDH / Commander community risen to the challenge? Which Origins planeswalker is best in the format? Let's find out.

In the 99: Seen in about 5000 decks. Top Commanders include Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Atraxa, Praetor's Voice, Mizzix of the Izmagnus, and Teferi, Temporal Archmage

It may seem strange to say, but Vryn’s Prodigy made Jace tribal a thing. That was the approach to building his deck, at first. It really does seem to make sense to jam any card with his name on it or any card having to do with him in a deck and run with it.

In Commander, the "looter" (draw a card, discard a card) ability on a 0/2 simply isn't that exciting. Even when you do flip him, the flashback ability is not what you'll be trying to do. You'll be looking to tick him up to his ultimate and work to mill everyone to death. There are a lot better ways to do it in Commander. You could obviously use his flashback ability on extra turn spells to help you “get there.” The trick is getting more than one activation out of him and there are plenty of other ways in blue to recycle spells.

Being such a hot card in tournament play, though, probably kept most Commander players from acquiring him at first. This Jace could prove useful in more than a few decks that actually like the looting such as Sultai (green/black/blue) and are happy to get the flashback for some big spells.

Some blue/black and Sultai decks also don't mind getting the emblem to get some fuel for reanimator spells. Simply put, I’m not sold on him as a Commander, but he's shown up in the 99 of more than a few strong commanders.

Grade: B (he's not bad in multiplayer, but much stronger in 1v1), In the 99: B (definitely a useful complementary piece on both sides)

Being so unique, I'm not surprised he hasn't been tried more as a Commander. The original Gideon Jura may be better overall in some ways, but the ability to be the first one drop planeswalker in Magic history makes Kytheon highly playable in any mono-white or Boros (red/white) aggro strategy.

In the 99: Seen in 5000+ decks. Key contributor in Meren of Clan Nel Toth and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. Notable appearances in Gisa and Geralf Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and Karador, Ghost Chieftain

Liliana’s popularity shouldn't be too much of a surprise as her flip side embodies Liliana’s two favorite things, discarding and reanimating. The optimal Liliana brew probably hasn't been found yet, but stocking up on value creatures and ways for you to benefit from opponent's discards is a nice place to start. Mono black is so flooded with strong Commander options that it's no surprise that major innovations taking place around the Heretical Healer haven't yet taken place.

That being said she's easy enough to get online in Commander, so you can get some solid value from her. Just being able to build a Commander deck around one of the most popular planeswalkers of all time is pretty sweet. After her rotation from Standard, she has found consistent homes in the 99 of Commanders who most value her contributions.

Grade: B (Commander), B+ (In the 99). Mono black is flooded with Commander options, but she should prove to be a good one long term.

In the 99: Seen in 6000+ decks. Key contributor in Omnath, Locus of Rage. Honorable mentions in The Gitrog Monster, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Atraxa, Praetor's Voice, Karametra God of Harvests, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Titania, Captain Sisay, Omnath, Locus of Mana, and others.

Landfall is a pretty big deal when it comes to Nissa. A slightly worse Borderland Ranger doesn't seem worthy of Commander status. But a free Forest never hurt anyone. However, when you hit your seventh land her flip side is enough to get her going. She's already done a good deal of work in competitive Abzan.

Sort of like her C14 counterpart Freyalise, she can do a lot for a variety of decks. Her plus ability gives you real card advantage and the ultimate can help to set up a pretty good endgame. She affects the board more than Freyalise so I see her having staying power as a Commander.

As a contributor in the 99, she's found her way in a wide variety of decks, especially ones that can take advantage of her as a Planeswalker with use of Doubling Season.

Grade: B+ (Commander, although she's even better in 1v1), B (In the 99). You just have to hold her back until you’re ready to flip her.

In the 99: Seen 900+ times. Honorable mention in Rakdos, Lord of Riots

Did you see this coming? It turns out Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh is the real deal in Commander. It's a shame that her planeswalker side doesn't deal Commander damage, but with the amount of burn you can realistically throw around that doesn't matter. The emblem wins games. It's actually quite easy to build around her.

As one of the 99, she is pretty much only useful if you need to ping things, making her really good friends with Rakdos, Lord of Riots. This gal is so good in multiplayer that it's a bit scary. She would be far from the first card to be better with more players, but she's as good as she is as a commander due to how her effects play up.

Grade: A (Commander), C (In the 99). Build a deck around pumping your burn spells, copying them, and flipping Chandra and you have a chance at burning everyone at the table.

In the early going, Chandra was the best commander of the Magic Origins bunch. But has time has passed, Liliana has become the most popular, which isn't very surprising considering how easy she is to flip in Commander. In the 99, Nissa, Vastwood Seer has become very popular as a worse Borderland Ranger who can turn into a decent Planeswalker. Jace, Vryn's Prodigy has shown up all over the format as the member of the 99. Interestingly, Kytheon hasn't been adopted by as many Commander players as you'd think and is rather under-appreciated in the format.

Which is your favorite flip-walker? Who do you think is the best in the Commander format long-term?

1v1 Commander has been a real format in Magic: the Gathering for some time. Unofficially, 1v1 Commander has been regulated by the Duel Commander rules committee. Recently, noticing just how popular the format is on Magic Online, Wizards of the Coast decided to add tournament support for 1v1 Commander! Hurray! Right? Well, there are some interesting things that they did in order to do so.

However, Wizards did spark outrage by announcing that players of multiplayer Commander, as of May 10th, would have to abide by the one-on-one banlist. Being completely unbalanced for a multiplayer format, it makes sense that this seemed to spell laziness on the part of Wizards. Did they simply think that the well-established multiplayer community (who have been going with the MTGcommander.net banlist for ages) would just go along with this?

Fortunately, thanks to the outspoken Magic community, Wizards announced that they will return to two separate banlists for one-on-one and multiplayer Commander by July 5th. However, this means that people who enjoy multiplayer Commander on Magic Online, which is quite a few, are going to have to experience a very different Commander format than the one that they’re used to. I won’t go into a card by card breakdown of the different banlists here, but what I can say right away is that it’s going to force some creative card choice changes and create a very different metagame than the one that most Commander players are used to.

However, in spite of this obvious miscalculation to force the same banlist on everyone, Wizards may have actually done something very good for Commander. With EDH actually becoming a competitive format on Magic Online, even if it’s just one-on-one, this means that Wizards is hopefully going to be treating the format with more care. Wizards keeps printing some extremely powerful cards that warp the format. This is especially in one-on-one, as we’ve seen by some of the decisions made by the Duel Commander rules committee, which isn’t affiliated with Wizards.

Now, of course, multiplayer Commander is going to remain the “casual” format that it has always been. It’s not making Wizards money (directly) like the 1v1 Commander tournament support will. And, of course, 1v1 Commander plays very differently than multiplayer in some ways. The politics are definitely one of the selling points of multiplayer Commander. Also, there are many cards in Magic that go from being mediocre in one-on-one Magic to incredible once you have four or more players at the table.

I think by monetizing the one-on-one Commander format, which is already a fiercely competitive format, especially in Europe, it will probably make Wizards think more about the format when designing cards specifically made for the format. Also, by making players on Magic Online wait for their original multiplayer banlist to be reinstated, it’s going to make people experiment. These new forced limitations will probably lead to new interactions between cards being discovered. It could actually be a good thing for the format as far as deckbuilding is concerned, especially when forced to live without staples such as Sol Ring.

What concerns me, though, is while I’m happy to see Commander become a real competitive format supported by Wizards, it could also mean that people are going to buy out cards that are currently affordable to online players. Many players who play Commander on Magic Online play there because it is far cheaper to build decks on there, at fractions of the cost when compared to purchasing the cards individually in paper. As of early May 2017, you can build fairly competitive Commander decks on Magic Online for as little as $20.

While most competitive 1-on-1 decks are built somewhat differently than multiplayer ones, especially due to the different banlists, there are a lot of cards that don’t see play in other competitive Magic formats that do see play in all forms of Commander. This could price a lot of the Commander community out of bothering to play on Magic Online. Also, this could be a bad thing for the community as MTGO is the only place that many Commander players can reliably get a game going on a regular basis. It’s also where a lot of Commander players playtest their decks before purchasing cards in paper (of course, Wizards doesn’t care about that!)

I really appreciate that Wizards actually took the time to explain their reasoning behind each of the bannings. I doubly appreciate that multiplayer Commander will return to normal after the release of Hour of Devastation on Magic Online. It’s very good to know that they continue to listen when they make strange decisions, and will look to find an amicable solution that everyone can live with.

But wait, if you’re a Commander player who doesn’t play on Magic Online, how will this affect you? Simply put, if 1v1 Commander becomes a fruitful enough format online, it’s extremely likely that Wizards will be supporting it in paper Magic, as well. This will affect the availability (or unavailability) of the same cards. It will be interesting to see how the unofficial and official banlists will be reconciled over time. Even if you don’t care about Magic Online, what will happen in Commander in MTGO will no doubt have an effect on off-line Commander, as well.

It's very confusing that for a bit there will be a paper multiplayer banlist, a paper 1v1 banlist, and an online 1v1 & multiplayer banlist. What Wizards was trying to do was unify the lists to make one banlist for all of them. They were probably hoping that through testing it would inform the official multiplayer Commander banlist, as well. The best solution, of course, is for everyone to use the same banlist for 1v1 and multiplayer, most likely. However, since multiplayer and 1v1 play differently, we'll see if this can actually ever happen.

What is your take on Wizards supporting competitive 1v1 Commander? Do you think it’s good or bad for the format? What do you think will happen in regards to multiplayer Commander due to having to be forced to use a different list for two months?

Whatever happens, 1v1 Commander will definitely be a format I watch closely now. Let’s hope Wizards makes this a fun format for everyone!

Spawn of Thraxes is a Dragon that can do a ton of damage in a Mono-Red deck. Of course, for Standard play, a seven mana casting cost was far too much for Red Deck Wins to muster. But it wasn't hard to see the Spawn seeing Commander play in certain decks. After being a decent Limited bomb, this Dragon has found his way into a lot of Mono-Red Commander decks. Being able to deal damage equal to the number of Mountains you control to a creature or player makes the Spawn's effect versatile. He can take out a problem creature, or deal a substantial amount of damage to an opponent. While this isn't necessarily an efficient way to spend 7 mana in most Constructed decks, in Commander, you're not going to mind paying 7 mana to deal a ton of damage late in the game after you've played most of your Mountains. Two Commanders that take full advantage of Spawn of Thraxes' ability are Feldon of the Third Path and Zirilan of the Claw. Feldon can create token copies of any creature card in your graveyard. This means you can create a Spawn token for only 3 mana as many times as you want, getting that effect and also getting a 5/5 with flying and haste for that turn. Zirilan can search him right out of the deck for three mana, and in this case he also gains haste. However, he has to be removed from the game at the end of the turn. In both cases, one summon is almost always going to be worth it.How much is Spawn of Thraxes worth? Being a promo that had a high supply and relatively low demand, Spawn of Thraxes' price is probably never going to exceed much more than $1. Still, this Dragon is a great addition to many Red Commanders' toolboxes. He may not win the game on his own, but he can deal a great amount of damage for often as little as three mana. If you're sorting through bulk bins and happen to find a copy, Spawn of Thraxes is worth picking up on the cheap for your collection, especially the foil pre-release promo version with alternate art. ​

Commander is a format dedicated to the unusual,the wacky, the crazy, and the occasional rules question that make judges cry themselves to sleep. The 100-card Highlander format was first geared towards multiplayer and social play, though through the support of Wizards of the Coast (via creating products for the format and taking it into consideration when designing sets), the format has taken a sharper edge.

With the release of Aether Revolt comes Exquisite Archangel, a creature that many who enjoy the format are divided on-some think this to be an auto-include in their decks, while others believe it should be struck with the almighty ban-hammer. But why?

At first, Exquisite Archangel looks bland-a 5/5 flyer for a total converted mana cost of 7 isn't all that exciting. The controversy comes from the small wall of text:"If you would lose the game, instead exile Exquisite Archangel and your life total becomes your starting life total."

Put into layman's terms, if this card is on a player's field and they take lethal damage, they simply remove this card from the game and start with a new buffer of life. In formats like standard, modern, etc. this may be concerning-after battling and slinging spells to eliminate your opponent from the lofty amount of twenty life, they simple reset to the start with all the board advantage intact. For commander players, however, this card is a much greater issue, as the format has a starting life total of forty. So what are the arguments for and against banning this card?

Why Exquisite Archangel should be banned in Commander1) It negates all of a player's hard work in eliminating a single opponent2) It is a single card that can change the outcome of an entire game3) It can be splashed in any deck with white

These arguments echo similar sentiment over the years, of cards players want banned from the game due to their degenerative nature. More often than not, however, cards become banned only after they have been tried in the format, and found guilty of warping the game around themselves (we're looking at you, Primeval Titan).

What are your thoughts on Exquisite Archangel? Should it be banned, or allowed to stay in the format?

With Aether Revoltcoming soon to a kitchen table near you, it's the perfect time to be both excited and prepared. The latest Magic: the Gathering set promises a whole new batch of fun, unique interactions that can potentially change a number of format's metagames.

While it is sometimes difficult to get Commander players excited for a new set, Aether Revolt seems to have delivered on that end of the bargain, especially with its set of Legendary Creatures. Players both new to the format and experienced are bound to pick up these cards and want to bring them to their maximum potential, and the ideas below can give everyone a headstart on the process.

Sram, Senior Edificer and Batterskull

Draw in any mono-color besides blue makes everyone think twice , and after careful consideration it looks like Batterskull would be a Sram commander's best friend. It doesn't take any kind of deep analysis to see that Batterskull can provide you with some much-needed card draw, as well as a potential threat. While somewhat expensive already, I can forsee the price rising just a hair due to the desire for commander players. Hopefully this has inspired you to go to Gathereror some other card database and pour over the pages!

Baral, Chief of Compliance and Arcane Denial

Counterspells were already pretty great before Baral was spoiled. Now, cards like Dissolve are all Counterspells, meaning two open blue mana will always signify a resounding "No" while this legend is out on the field, cancelling your plans entirely. Arcane Denial becomes merely one blue mana to outwit your opponents. This cryptic command will lock down the board state as long as there is open mana, and is a wonderful option for the right control player. Foil your opponent's plans before they even get going with sheer force of will, or wait for them to make a mental misstep before profiting from your oppressive will.

Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Forgotten Ancient

Rishkar seemed underwhelming at first-until you notice that he turns your creatures with counters into Llanowar Elves. You could easily go into Elf tribal with this legend, however you can go in almost any direction you want with Rishkar's burst of strength. Forgotten Ancient allows you to rapidly increase your mana sources, since everyone will be playing spells as much as they can to try and keep up. Note how this card's first ability is triggered when it enters the battlefield, meaning you can find ways to flicker it, adding to both your mana base as well as an increasing savagery during combat. Once you've enjoyed the fruits of this card's natural panoply , casting as many cards as you have the mana for (which should be a lot, and quickly), the game should soon swing in your favor, and your opponents will find themselves in death's presence. A deck centered around Rishkar will certainly be a triumph of the hordes!

Kari Zev, Skyship Raider and Confusion in the Ranks

Red has a fatal attraction when it comes to...well, pretty much anything. As far as legends go, Kari may be the weakest amongst the Aether Revolt when it comes to being a Commander. Acting on impulse and reflexes alone won't get you far in the multiplayer format, and fortunately this article can become a useful chasm guide for you. Kari likes to work with cards like Confusion in the Ranks, swapping a tapped Ragavan for your opponent's best creature, then watching the pandemonium that ensues when they lose Ragavan and their best creature after combat ends. Use these arcane teachings to cause impact tremors in the game, and you'll have a good chance of avoiding where ancients tread.

Yahenni, Undying Partisan and Dictate of Erebos

Yahenni was made with some small measure of diabolic intent. With cards like Dictate of Erebos and Grave Pact, this commander becomes an abhorrent overlord, making everyone barter in blood. If your deck is not centered around creatures, you have a stronger chance; if not, the game becomes one of attrition, and you will soon eliminate the competition. There is no such thing as innocent blood in a game Commander , but with the right cards on the field this new legend becomes a merciless executioner, and one sinister concoction of a deck.

Hope of Ghirapur and Whispersilk Cloak

Wow! A new colorless Legendary! What a godsend! Now, what do we do with it? Attack, of course! Whispersilk Cloak is perfect for this creature, ensuring the ultimate evasion to get damage through in combat. This creature should be cast every first turn if it is your commander, to carry a blazing torch to your opponent's field. You may not be delivering any hot soup, however this card will certainly give you an infiltration lens on what your opponent's strategy is. It may not be a power house, and it may earn a glaring spotlight from your opponent(s) who are locked down, but if all your opponent can cast is creatures (locking out instants, sorceries, planeswalkers, artifacts, and enchantments), there will be more than just hope for victory.

These legendary creatures all have a lot of potential for the Commander format, and players around the world are excited to get their hands on them and weild them with deadly efficiency.

Prerelease for Aether Revolt is this weekend, January 14-15, and releases in stores on January 20th, 2017!

Shawn Leonardo is a casual Magic: the Gathering blogger, and mainly discusses the EDH/Commander format as well as budget solutions. He currently resides in Idaho, where he plots world domination.

Quietus Spikeis a Magic card from Shards of Alara quietly enjoyed a rise in price from around $2 to $4 over a couple of years. However, with a reprint in Commander 2017 and later in Planechase Anthology, the original printing fell under $2. Quietly, it's been a very solid Equipment for quite a long time.

Appearing first in Shards of Alara, and also included in a Planechase pre-constructed deck, Quietus Spike is a 3-drop Equipment that gives a creature deathtouch. Also, whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, that players loses half of his or her life, rounded up.

Voltron strategies, those that involve loading up one creature with a bunch of Equipments and/or Auras, are extremely popular in Commander. This would explain why a great many ﻿Kemba, Kha Regent﻿ decks have included this equipment. A card like Quietus Spike is especially good on a Commander like Rafiq of the Many, who much of the time has double strike. That means the effect of Quietus Spike activates twice, which means a ton of life lost.

Quietus Spikeis also fun on any creature that has trample or otherwise gains trample. This is because when you assign damage on a trampling creature, only 1 of that damage has to be dealt to a defending creature. Now, not only can you deal more damage, but greatly sap your opponent's overall total, as well.

Sadly, the Spike's ability doesn't trigger Gisela, Blade of Goldnight's double damage dealing ability. This is since the Spike's ability is life loss, not damage. The Spike also doesn't grant you additional combat damage when totaling the 21 Commander damage (also known as general damage) necessary for an invididual Commander to take out a player. It also doesn't double infect damage, which is a good thing, because 10 Poison Counters to kill a player is a low enough total to begin with.

The Spike was also quite good in the short-lived but massively popular Tiny Leaders format, the 50-card Commander variant in which you can only play cards with converted mana cost 3 or less. With how prevalent Voltron strategies are in that format, and the lack of lethal Commander damage, having an Equipment like this can end games quickly. Your opponent only starts with 25 life in Tiny Leaders, so it won't take much for any creature equipped with this to land a heavy blow.

The Tiny Leaders format didn't last all that long, but a lot of people bought Quietus Spike that didn't have use for them before. The price has been on an even steadier rise since then. It took a big jump from $3 to almost $4 between February and April of 2016 and the price has been wavering between $3 and $4 since then.

Even without Tiny Leaders, Quietus Spike sees play in a wide variety of Commander decks. Interestingly, the Commander who utilizes it the most is not one with Double Strike. It's actually Olivia Voldaren. Olivia is usually a Vampire Tribal Commander who is definitely focused on life loss, so you could see the Spike fitting into that strategy quite well. Another Commander bent on life loss isVela the Night-Clad, so it's little surprise that the Quietus Spike shows up in some of her decks, as well.

Also, both of these decks have access to an Enchantment calledWound Reflection. This card has a player-killing combo with Quietus Spike, since it causes each opponent to lose life equal to the amount of life lost that turn at the end of each turn. It's probably the best combo available with Quietus Spike.

Quietus Spike is a fairly valuable equipment in a wide range of Commander decks. While it hasn't become a staple in the format, it's widely played. You can't really go wrong picking this card up if you're fond of Equipment-based decks.

While you may not expect a 5 mana Enchantment to see much Standard play, Dictate of Helioddefinitely did. As a one-of in many mid-range decks, being able to give all of your creatures +2/+2 at instant speed proved extremely powerful. It's often a game-winning swing in power. This card can lead to some serious blow-outs, especially when its cast during combat.When Dictate of Heliod was first released, a lot of Heroic deck builders wondered if this Enchantment would trigger Heroic abilities. Because Dictate of Heliod does not target, sadly, it did not. However, it didn't stop this card from seeing play even in some Heroic Aggro decks that sometimes just needed a slight boost to win the game. But it really was more of a mid-range card during its Standard lifetime. And while the effects of additional copies of Dictate of Heliod do stack, it never really made sense to run more than one copy in a 60-card deck.Considering how good this card turned out to be in Standard, it's no surprise that it sees regular Commander play. Token-happy Commanders Rhys the Redeemed and Trostani, Selesnya's Voiceadopted it quite quickly, although not to the degree that you might expect. It hasn't become a staple for any one Commander.The Commander who has best adopted Dictate of Heliod is Daxos the Returned. The Enchantment-happy commander can spit out of a lot formidable tokens with his ability. Being an Enchantment, the Dictate gives you an experience counter when cast. This makes the tokens that Daxos creates much more powerful. The extra +2/+2 power and toughness boost is certainly helpful, too, but not quite so much to make it a staple in his decks. Another Commander that has made good use of the Dictate isIroas, God of Victory. The Journey into Nyx red and white God has seen fit to play Dictate of Heliod in about 25 percent of his lists. Since he gives creatures you control the ability to only be blocked by two or more creatures (known as Menace), giving your creatures a significant +2/+2 boost can be quite relevant. You can really blow out an opponent's blocking plan by bringing in the Dictate at Instant speed.While Dictate of Heliod never became the Commander staple that some members of the EDH community predicted, it's still a great toolbox card. It's also a card with beautiful artwork, and that means foil copies could be a nice little investment. It's actually surprising that Dictate of Heliod's foil price was still little more than $1 even towards the end of 2016. This is a card that all Commander players should have in their deck building toolbox. It's an anthem that doubles as a combat trick. If you're running any White creature-heavy Commander decks, it's one to consider.

Anthem effects in Magic the Gathering are always cool. Who doesn't like making their creatures bigger? When they don't help opponents, they're even better. Theros gave us one of the better anthems out there, Spear of Heliod. It's become a Commander staple. While the Spear is probably a better anthem overall, Hall of Triumph is much more versatile in what decks it can be played. As an artifact, it's colorless, which helps it fit into more decks.

Hall of Triumph costs 3 colorless mana to cast. When it comes into play, you choose a color and creatures of that color you control gain +1/+1. Sadly, you can't choose colorless as an option for Hall of Triumph. Despite, colorless mana getting its own mana symbol in Oath of the Gatewatch, you still can't choose colorless as an option if you need to choose a color. It's pretty straightforward. While it's limited to a single color, there are plenty of mono-colored decks that could use an anthem effect, especially Red decks that wouldn't otherwise have one. It seemed Hall of Triumph would become a mono-colored Commander staple. After seeing a bit of play in Standard, however, the only deck that widely adopted the Hall was Krenko, Mob Boss. Along with the Tribal anthem, Obelisk of Urd, suddenly Krenko's Goblins became more imposing. As an artifact, Hall of Triumph is still relatively underplayed considering the versatility of its effect. If you're running a one-color Tribal deck in Commander, you should definitely consider running a copy of Hall of Triumph.

In Magic the Gathering, the Nephilims are a cycle of five four-color creatures printed in Guildpact, the second set of the original Ravnica block. For the longest time, they were the only five four-color creatures in all of Magic. Then, the five four-color Legendary Creatures from Commander 2016 were introduced. But, their existence doesn't make the Nephilims any less interesting.

Some of the Nephilims are actually fairly good cards that see some play in Commander decks. It is a shame that the Nephilims were not Legendary Creatures, as a couple of them could have been very playable four color Commanders. Magic the Gathering head designer Mark Rosewater - better known as MaRo - wished they had made them Legendary in the first place.

So, we have these five Nephilims. Let's take a look at each of them and their overall playability, even as unofficial Legendary creatures and Commanders.

Dune-Brood Nephilim is the BRGW Nephilim. It's a 3/3 with the ability that whenever it deals combat damage to a player, you put a 1/1 colorless Sand creature token into play for each land you control. That could be a heck of a lot of tokens.

The best sort of deck for a card like this would be one like a Maze's End build with Child of Alara as its Commander.Such a ramp deck that has Maze's End for its win condition would be happy to have a card like this who could make a whole bunch of tokens to either hold down the fort or serve as an alternate win condition. For those unfamiliar with Maze's End, its primary purpose is to pull Guildgates out of the deck. When it and all 10 gates are on the field, you win the game. Building up an army of Sand creature tokens while working to accomplish this goal is definitely good.

Unofficial Dune-Brood Nephilim Commander decks would obviously focus on getting a lot of lands into play quickly. Sadly, since you're missing a color, the Maze's End plan won't work. However, there are plenty of ways to still get a lot of lands into play quickly. Key cards in this strategy would include The Gitrog Monster (himself a powerful Commander) and Splendid Reclamation. Having to sacrifice lands to the Monster is fine since you can just get them back into play with Splendid Reclamation. It's an interesting deck concept, although Gitrog Monster himself can do this a bit more consistently. Still, having access to Red and White allows for a broader spectrum of ways you can win the game.

Glint-Eye Nephilim is the UBRG Nephilim. It's only a 2/2, but whenever it deals combat damage to a player, you draw that many cards. Also, for one colorless mana, you can discard a card and give it +1/+1 until end of turn. This is a repeatable effect. It's possible, especially in EDH, that you could draw a good number of cards with Glint-Eye.

Glint-Eye's best deck in Commander is easily Rainbow Creatures, a deck led by Progenitus that uses all 10 of the Shadowmoor/Eventide Lieges for pumping its creatures, as well as all 5 of the Kamigawa block Myojin, and all 5 Nephilim. It also plays all 5 New Phyrexia Praetors and all 5 of the major Theros Gods. The idea that Glint-Eye could get very, very big and draw you a lot of cards is pretty awesome.

"Whenever a player plays an instant or sorcery spell, if Ink-Treader Nephilim is the only target of that spell, copy the spell for each other creature that spell could target. Each copy targets a different one of those creatures."

While that's a fascinating ability, how exactly is it used? Besides being played in Rainbow Creatures, Ink-Treader has found a home in Chaos-based Karona, False God decks. These decks play very few creatures and focus around making the board-state as crazy out of control as possible. What Ink-Treader does in a deck like that is make it so that it's basically impossible to remove without destroying every other creature on the board. It's a tricky card, which would be a lot better were it a Legendary Creature that you could build around.

Witch-Maw Nephilim is only a 1/1 for GWUB. However, whenever you play a spell, you may put 2 +1/+1 counters on it. Also, whenever it attacks, it gains trample until end of turn if its power is 10 or greater. The potential of the Witch-Maw to get extremely big is quite possible, especially in Rainbow Creatures. But outside of that deck, it doesn't do much. Like Ink-Treader Nephilim, it would make for an especially interesting Commander, but on its own is not quite so good. However, not being Legendary hasn't stopped people from making unofficial Witch-Maw EDH decks.

Yore-Tiller Nephilim is probably the best of all 5 of the Nephilim. It costs WUBR to play, but besides seeing play in the usual Progenitus Rainbow Creatures and Karona decks, it also sees heavy amounts of play in Scion of the Ur-Dragon. Scion EDH decks are all about dumping huge Dragon cards in the graveyard so that Scion may become a copies of them later through his effect.

What Yore-Tiller allows you to do is bring a Dragon back into play tapped and attacking straight from the graveyard. Yore-Tiller has to attack to activate this effect, but does not need to deal combat damage. More often than not, it will probably be blocked and killed but whatever is brought in with that effect is likely going to deal a lot of damage, especially if it's a Balefire Dragon or Hellkite Tyrant, or the like. Yore-Tiller has also seen some play in Sliver decks, to help bring back key Slivers from the graveyard.

Overall, the five Nephilims are fascinating creatures that had they made as Legendary Creatures would have provided 5 very interesting Commander options. As we've seen, people have used them as Commanders, despite not being Legendary.

Even with some proper 4-color Commanders available now, the Nephilim remain fascinating curiosities, all of which see some amount of play in Commander.

And, of course, all five Nephilims are playable in the rarely played Prismatic Magic Online format... not that anyone will ever care about that format again.

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